


Vodka Red Bull

by Zerotaste



Series: Club Yumenosaki (Zerotaste's Enstars strip club AU) [1]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Mentions, F/F, Fluff, Rule 63, Strip Cub AU, referenced Keichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-19 23:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11908434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerotaste/pseuds/Zerotaste
Summary: A loud beep sounds as she holds her key against the sensor before the door clicks open. Soundproof, brightly lit and shelves of paper work along wall, the interior of the office is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the club. Only the screens displaying video feeds of various areas of the club and a calendar displaying a smiling brunette in a skimpy fire fighter costume betray what kind of establishment it’s within.“Please tell me you’re just here to report everything’s running smoothly, I think I lost ten years off my life last night.” Keito looks about as tired as she sounds. Red bull cans surround the keyboard she’s typing on and Mao’s pretty sure that her energy drink intake is more likely to be taking years off her life than misbehaving strippers and unruly customers.(Aka – Strip club au but from the point of view of a tired manager rather than a dancer)





	Vodka Red Bull

**Author's Note:**

> I literally have no idea how much a this appeals to anyone but I had a lot of fun writing this so here it is. Please keep in mind that rules and laws about strip clubs and what’s allowed vary wildly everywhere, I’ve set this in a fully nude club based heavily on how they work in my own country but I am aware that things are different depending on where you live.  
> Everyone uses first names despite what they call people in canon because realistically, all the characters would be going by stripper names and for ease of knowing who the fuck everyone is, I decided to portray this in this way instead. I kept this consistent during the flashback as well since this has a vague western setting so honorifics don’t fit and Maa-kun doesn’t work for girl Mao. There is one nickname used and it is by Ritsu, I chose to keep it since it is very gender neutral.  
> There’s no sex or anything like that in here but given the AU, there are of course very adult themes and a couple of brief touches on like, actual serious things, even though this is mostly comedy and fluff.

Loud music blares and laser lights flash as she pushes her way through the crowds. The men around her stink of too much alcohol or cigarette smoke. Snippets of conversation that to anyone not used to the scene might seem interesting or absurd are of no interest to her, four nights a week for two years have long desensitised her to many things; a lewd turn in a conversation or a few explicit words exchanged aren’t enough to distract her from her objective. A parting in the crowd giving her a decent view of the main stage is, however. Long slender legs, soft curves and a dance style that completely betrays how she acts off of the stage, she’s transfixed.

It’s not like she doesn’t see enough of Ritsu in her daily life to know this girl she’s portraying is a complete lie. It’s also not like she doesn’t prefer the real version of her. There’s still something about how she performs that always takes Mao’s breath away. Perhaps what she needs to inform Keito of isn’t so dire that she can’t take a moment to be caught in Ritsu’s spell. A swing of her hips, a flick of her hair and a wink to a crowd Mao knows she sees as nothing but walking wallets, she turns to the back of the stage.

And that’s when the spell breaks.

The string-like back of the thong she’s wearing is definitely not within the club regulations. Regulations Ritsu has probably never bothered reading properly. Bending forwards only confirms that the offending underwear certainly are, well, offending. Rolling her eyes she changes her order of priorities, shoving her way through the men between her and the tip rail. It’s not really as if she cares that much, she knows that in half a song Ritsu’s going to be fully nude any way. Keito however, is not going to let her off lightly if she happens to see. The rules are the rules no matter how much this particular one has always seemed like nonsense to Mao.

Hands on her hips she knows Ritsu will notice her standing by the side of the stage.

“Mao~ Did you come to tip me~” Half shouting to be heard above the music, Ritsu drops gracefully to her knees so she can be face to face with Mao from the elevated stage.

“No. You know that thong isn’t wide enough at the back.” She scolds, “You have two choices, follow all the rules as if you’re naked already for the rest of your set or take it off now and do that anyway.”

She knows it’s incredibly unsexy for the audience to be subjected to a manager telling off a dancer in the middle of a set but she’d rather be doing it now, than let Keito do it later.

“I think you just want to see me naked faster, but fine.” Leaning forward and capturing Mao’s lips gets a cheer from the crowd of men sat and standing around the stage.

Spinning around on her knees, she grabs at one of the stage’s poles to pull herself up from the floor.  A couple of beats later and she’s slipped the offending garment off. The ease with which any of the girls here manage to remove their underwear is something Mao has never gotten the hang of despite her own athleticism. She tried it at home once, almost fell over and got laughed at by Ritsu. Not her finest moment.

“A gift for you.” Leaning out over the side of the stage, Ritsu drops the skimpy black thong directly on top of Mao’s head before turning to take a tip from a man at the side of the stage in her garter.

Sighing and pulling the underwear from her head, she turns away from the stage. She’s in half a mind to rifle through Ritsu’s underwear draws after her shift and throw out anything that would break rules if she decided to wear it to work; whether she knows Ritsu brought it with work in mind or not. Now that one issue is taken care of, she can get back to what she was originally up to.

A loud beep sounds as she holds her key against the sensor before the door clicks open. Soundproof, brightly lit and shelves of paper work along wall, the interior of the office is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the club. Only the screens displaying video feeds of various areas of the club and a calendar displaying a smiling brunette in a skimpy fire fighter costume betray what kind of establishment it’s within.

“Please tell me you’re just here to report everything’s running smoothly, I think I lost ten years off my life last night.” Keito looks about as tired as she sounds. Red bull cans surround the keyboard she’s typing on and Mao’s pretty sure that her energy drink intake is more likely to be taking years off her life than misbehaving strippers and unruly customers.

“Don’t worry it’s not bad news,” Kind of, she thinks, “Rei got taken to Champagne Room for 4 hours so she can’t do the show at midnight any more. Wataru said she can do it though.”

“ ‘ _She can do it’_ better not mean  she just wants to go up there and do Rei’s show for her.” Taking off her glasses Keito rubs her eyes tiredly.

“She even swapped to Rei’s way of talking when she told me she’d do it.”

Keito doesn’t answer immediately, picking up a can and checking it’s got anything in it before finishing its contents.

“I think I need to start mixing this with vodka to get through shifts at this time of year.”

“So I’ll just go and tell her no then?”

“She knows she’s not allowed anything to do with fire unless she ties back that ridiculous hair.” Lifting a clipboard from the wall she scans a list of names. “Just for that she’s not getting to do a show. As much as I dislike relying on her, the spa is full tonight so Kanata can do hers. If she won’t, then we’ll can the show altogether, no one else on has one.”

“Got it.” Scanning the screens behind Keito she tries to spot tell tale blue hair to give her an idea of where to find Kanata. An excellent performer she may be, she can definitely be one of the more unpredictable girls they have. “Take a break at some point. How many hours have you been here?”

“More hours than I even want to think about.” Mao wouldn’t be surprised if Keito’s running on two hours of sleep at the most at. “I’ll get Tori and Yuzuru to sort out the change of plans, stay here for a few minutes, maybe talking to someone normal for a bit will reduce my stress levels.”

Mao hardly thinks she really counts as normal considering she willingly works here over jobs with slightly more normal hours and far less drunk people. Thankfully it seems like Yuzuru’s the one who picks up the call to the host booth and Keito manages to get what needs to be handled conveyed without needing to listen to Tori complain about how the night’s going.

“Sit down, I think I’ve got an unopened can of Red Bull somewhere if you want one.”

“Thanks.” It’s much needed, while her hours may not be as long as Keito’s she’s still not quite used to the amount of responsibility put upon her as a recently appointed manager.

Going to take the can she realises Ritsu’s thong is still balled up in her hand. Her attempt to hide it before taking the drink doesn’t go unnoticed by Keito. In response to the curiously raised eyebrow she holds it up, hoping that Keito won’t bother to bother Ritsu if she knows Mao’s told her off for it already.

“Don’t worry I already told her not to do it again.” Although whether she actually listens or not is another thing entirely.

“I’m assuming from your willingness to carry around someone else’s underwear this is Ritsu?” Keito doesn’t sound at all surprised, just mildly disappointed. “Hell is going to freeze over before either her or her sister stop being headaches.”

Tucking the underwear into her pocket, she can finally accept the drink.

“I think I’d miss it if they were different though?” She muses as she opens the can, “Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t wish Ritsu would behave more at work.”

Almost instantly she feels slightly more alert as the sickly sweet drink hits her tongue. Behind Keito she can see the commotion in the club on the screens and it feels almost bizarre that such chaos is happening mere metres away from them.

“I wish they’d all behave more at work, I suppose I wouldn’t be getting paid quite so well if this job was easy though.” A small smile tugs at the corner of Keito’s mouth. “I guess we’re both a bit crazy aren’t we, willingly working here because of ridiculous childhood friends?”

Mao knows she’s thinking about Eichi. The club a pet project of boredom and too much money; something Eichi had managed to talk Keito into essentially running for her. Not that it had taken too much convincing, no matter how much Keito may grumble about Eichi roping her into this job, she always talks far too fondly of her for someone who thinks of her as just a childhood friend. Until she’d heard the story, she’d been confused as to why someone like Keito would want to go anywhere near a strip club. Entirely too proper and stiff she comes off as the opposite of the kind of person Mao had expected to find interviewing her when she’d applied to fill a bartender position a couple of years back.

“I’d be stressing out about her more not working here than while I am” Mao can feel herself smiling softly as she speaks.  “Before I managed to get that job behind the bar I could hardly sleep when she was at work convinced she was going to do something stupid and I wouldn’t be here to stop her.”

“Sometimes I’m thankful Eichi spends so much time in hospital, if she was fit and healthy I’d be the same way.” Behind her glasses Keito’s usually sharp eyes are soft as she speaks. “Not that she doesn’t manage to cause me enough stress from her hospital bed as it is.”

“Do you think she’d dance herself?” She asks, knowing from the way Keito talks about Eichi that the answer is probably yes.

“I don’t doubt that she’d want to, I’d try to talk her out of it but I hardly thing she would listen to me.” Keito answers, “I suspect it was about the same with Ritsu?”

“I knew I didn’t stand a chance at talking her out of it.” Mao starts to remember the conversation they’d had when her girlfriend had first brought up her intentions to work at the club, “She still idolised Rei back then and this suits her more than most jobs would.”  


\-------

  
Late afternoon sun peaks through the not quite closed curtains of Ritsu’s bedroom, catching Mao’s eye at just the right angle to make her have to squint as she reads. It’s occurred to her a few times since the sun began to drop in the sky to shake Ritsu awake so she can move to a position where reading the manga in her hand won’t be a grand effort. Ritsu looks so peaceful as she sleeps while draped across Mao’s lap though and she’ll be awake soon enough anyway.

Sighing she puts the volume down on the mattress beside her. Even if she can manage to make out the dialogue, she missing out on seeing the art properly and that’s one of the major draw cards of the series. Shaking her head she turns her attention to the cause of her current predicament. Long black hair spills across the mattress and without thinking Mao finds her fingers running through the soft locks. There’s a small noise in reaction to her touch and Mao feels her heart catch, no matter how much she may inconvenience her, there’s no denying that she’s hopelessly in love with her ridiculous childhood friend.

“Mmmm, you’re so mean waking me up so early.” She grumbles, words half slurred. Her hand catches Mao’s stopping it from brushing through her hair but not letting go of her fingers once she has them in her grasp.

“You’re the mean one, the suns catching me directly in my eyes here and I can’t move because someone decided I was a good pillow.”

“You are a good pillow, you’re the best pillow and you’re my pillow.” Mao finders herself laughing affectionately at Ritsu’s half asleep rambling. “What time is it?”

“Late enough for you to be waking up,” she responds, “Can you let me get the sun out of my eyes now, I think I’m going blind.”

Slowly Ritsu sits up, blinking sleepily and rubbing at her eyes. Yawning loudly she shifts to lean against Mao, barely giving Mao time to turn her body so she’s no catching the sun directly in her eyes.

“Good morning~” Ritsu presses a kiss to her cheek before resting her head on her shoulder.

“Good evening. You better not be planning on keeping me up all night now that you’re up.” Leaning her head back against Ritsu’s, she smiles softly as she attempts to sound stern.

“Allllll night, I have so many plans for us.” She responds devilishly. “I’m finally going to get you into that maid costume.”

“Uh huh, and I’m finally going to get you to wake up when I do tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll die, I’m a creature of the night, I wasn’t made to wake up before evening.” Ritsu says completely seriously.

For a while there’s a comfortable silence. Ritsu’s fingers slide between hers again, minutes melt into each other, time lost as they enjoy the comfort of just being with each other.

The sun has properly begun to set by the time Ritsu moves, sitting up properly but not letting go of Mao’s hand. Her grips tightens and turning to take in her expression, she looks slightly nervous all of a sudden. It’s an unusual expression for Mao to see when they’re alone, Ritsu is generally shameless and seems to take pride in saying things that get her flustered and worked up. Such a serious expression makes Mao nervous in return.

“…Ritsu?” She approaches.

“Hey, would you still love me if I started stripping too?” She says slowly.

The question catches her by surprise slightly. More in the way it’s worded than Ritsu asking such a thing. After how long they’ve known each other and how long they’ve been together, Mao’s surprised Ritsu might think anything would stop her from loving her. Especially something like this, while she may have hoped Ritsu wouldn’t want to follow in her older sister’s footsteps , she’d had her suspicions from the way Ritsu would wistfully glance at Rei’s dance bag or the way her eyes would light up whenever he sister talked about her work. If Mao pays attention, she can hear Rei outside Ritsu’s room, moving about as she gets herself ready for work.

“Nothing’s going to stop me from loving you, don’t be silly.” Squeezing her hand back she tries to reassure Ritsu. “I mean I would prefer you didn’t but if this is what you want to do I can’t really stop you.”

“If you really wanted me to not I might think about it.” She says, biting at her lip slightly, Mao has to wonder how long she’s been working up the courage to ask this question. “I want you to be proud of me.”

“I am proud of you Ritsu and nothing is going to stop me from loving you, you could probably kill someone and I’d still love you.” Almost immediately after she says those words she realises that’s probably not the wisest thing to say. “Uh, don’t kill anyone though.”

Ritsu smiles slightly at that.

“I won’t kill anyone, but only because you asked me not to.” Pulling Mao by the hand she drags her down onto the mattress.

“I’d like to think that even if I hadn’t asked you not to you wouldn’t kill anyone.” They’re getting further away from the original topic with every word and that’s probably not a wise idea when they’re talking about something so serious. “You’ve thought this through fully though? You know it’s not all getting paid to party and look cute.”

“I literally live with a stripper, I know it can be shitty. And I don’t like parties or people so I’m not doing it because of that.” She says, “There’s not a lot of jobs I can do, I know that and this is at least something I’ll be good at, probably.”

The tone of Ritsu’s voice makes Mao want to hug her tight and never let her go. Wrapping her arms around her slender waist she pulls her against her. Ritsu curls into the embrace, nuzzling her head against Mao’s modest chest.

“You’d be very good at it, I might find it weird or hard to get used to but I’ll do my best, okay?” Weird or hard to get used to and scary not knowing exactly how safe Ritsu is or the types of people she’s around. “I might be freaking out more if I wasn’t used to your sister stripping.”

“I wanna work at the same club she does.” Her words come out muffled as she more or less talks to Mao’s boobs rather than to her directly. “I’ve been trying to convince her to let me dance since I turned 18 and she’s finally giving in.”

“You were still in school when you turned 18, I really hope you weren’t planning on starting then.” She says, voice now finally taking on a slightly scolding tone. While it would definitely take getting used to, she’d be able to come to terms with Ritsu’s decision to strip; if she’d done it back in school Mao definitely would have had a problem with it.

“She said the same thing.”

“That’s because we both care about you a lot.”

“Mmm, well I wanted to graduate with you so I wasn’t going to start before then anyway.” Ritsu responds.

“Won’t it be weird? Seeing her naked all the time?” Mao turns the topic back to the fact Ritsu wants to work at the same club as her sister. She supposes at least if she is working at the same place as Rei, she’ll have someone looking out for her. Hopefully she can talk her into working the same shifts as her sister.

“Nah, she doesn’t put on clothes a lot when you’re not here so it’s nothing weird.” Mao can’t help but be thankful that Rei has the decency to put clothes on when she’s around. “She says all the other clubs around here are dives anyway and I shouldn’t be working extras ridden places like those.”

“I only understood about half of what you just said.” She admits.

“Basically even if I wasn’t used to seeing her naked I wouldn’t have much choice but to work there.” She says sounding a bit amused, “I’m going to have to teach you stripper language now that I’m going to be one~”

The speed at which Ritsu had gone from very concerned about Mao accepting her to teasing her about not knowing words that Ritsu herself probably only knows from talking to her sister is so typically Ritsu.

“Maybe I should try and get a job in the bar so I can keep an eye on you.” She’s half serious; university is something she can balance with a bartending job. It’s not that she doesn’t trust Rei, no matter how much the older Sakuma girl’s attitude might concern her at times; she’d just prefer another set of eyes making sure her often troublesome girlfriend doesn’t get herself into trouble.

“You don’t trust me.” She pretends to sound upset.

“Hey now it’s not that, it’s more that I don’t trust the men who are going to be there.”

“Oh? So you’re jealous then?” Mao knows she’s not going to win when Ritsu’s acting like this. “Maybe you should become a stripper too so you can keep an extra good eye on me.”

Even the thought of removing her clothes for someone other than Ritsu has her getting embarrassed. No way could she handle getting naked on a stage in front of a packed club.

“Ahahaha no. I won’t even put on that maid dress for you, what makes you think I’d be able to handle being a stripper.” She says, laughing awkwardly.

“You’d get all embarrassed and flustered on stage and it’d be so cute~” She half sings, “But then I’d get jealous that other people were seeing you naked so I guess it is no good. You can’t be a stripper, too bad.”

“Hey what’s with this double standard, you? You’re allowed to be a stripper but you’re the only one allowed to see me naked?” She says, not contesting her opinion but also really not that surprised that Ritsu’s acting like this.

“That’s just how it is, I don’t make the rules.”

Mao wants to retort that Ritsu is in fact the one who had just come up with that rule but is cut off by her lips being caught in a kiss. It’s not like she’s about to argue any way.

“You shouldn’t work in a strip club any way, you’re studying for a proper job so you should concentrate on that.” Ritsu says after their lips part. “That way I can be your trophy wife once I’m too old for dancing.”

“And here I thought you were an immortal vampire who was never going to age? Or have you been lying to me about this the whole time?” Teasing her back, Mao pulls back slightly to smile at Ritsu. This whole thing is going to take so, so much getting used to but Ritsu will be her Ritsu no matter what.

“Oh I am but even vampires get bad knees and sore backs.” She says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “And I have to be your trophy wife whether I strip or not. I’d suck at normal jobs.”

Mao thinks about other jobs Ritsu might be able to do. She’s skilled on the piano but only likes to play what interests her, she’s good at baking, but her sense of decorating is terrifying and she’s cunning enough that there’s probably some job out there that could make good use of that. Though being a good hustler probably takes a good amount of cunning and strategy so that last one really might be getting some of its best use at Ritsu’s future job. Maybe one day in the future Ritsu will be able to move into a more long term industry but she really doesn’t mind if it comes to it that Ritsu can’t. She just hopes she’s earning enough to support them both comfortably by then.

“Make sure you’re happy, okay? If it starts getting too much at any point, I don’t want you to keep going just because you think you have to be bringing in money.” She says seriously.

“I’ll stop if I don’t like it and let you take care of me since you like doing that so much~” A small yawn escapes Ritsu’s mouth and she buries her head back into Mao’s chest. “I’m gunna sleep some more, talking about serious things has made me tired.”

While Mao’s tempted to protest that Ritsu literally just woke up, she needs to take time to process this new turn of events. Pressing a kiss to the top of Ritsu’s head she lets her drift back off to sleep.

 

\------

 

Keito clearing her throat loudly snaps her back to reality. A raised eyebrow and a concerned expression on her face, Mao realises she must have noticeably zoned out. Perhaps she needs more than just one energy drink to keep her on her game tonight. A full day of classes and an assignment due in two days time, she’d be tired even if she wasn’t spending her nights surrounded by naked girls and laser lights.

“Ah, sorry, it’s been a long day. As long as I’m on my feet it’s fine so I’ll get back to it.” With that she stands up, taking the half empty can of red bull with her. “I hope you survive the night.”

“You too, let the bar know to put it on my tab if you want another one of those, I want you alert.” Adjusting her glasses Keito turns her attention back to her computer screen.

If it’s possible, it seems like the clubs gotten even busier since she stepped into the office. The chatter around her almost drowns out the music as she pushes through parts of the crowd, mixing together in a dizzying mess of bass and slurred words. Until there’s a voice that doesn’t blend in. Loud and clear above the rest of the noise, she has to wonder how the girl responsible for the shouting isn’t losing her voice.

“Oi! Fuckin’ listen to me you asshole. Just ‘cuz she’s quiet and has an accent doesn’t mean she’s an idiot, ya try to pull that kinda shit on her again and I’ll make it so ya can’t pull anything again!” The man’s drink goes flying, contents and broken glass spilling everywhere as it crashes to the floor. “Fucking racist piece of shit. C’mon Adonis, we’re finding someone worth your time.”

“Koga!”

A glare is shot her way, fiery anger alight in golden eyes. Koga may have a volatile personality, especially with how much she tends to drink, but she doesn’t go off at customers unless there’s a good reason. Mao has no doubt that whatever had been said deserved her reaction but running a business, they can’t really afford to let their girls react quite like that. Sighing, she makes her way towards the shaken looking man. She hopes whatever he has to say to her in reaction gives her reason enough to throw him out, the fewer assholes in the club the easier the night is for everyone. Guys like this never spend any real money anyway.

Just as she gets close enough that she has to be careful not to slip on the beer and glass splashed on the floor, he turns around and storms towards the exit. Well that solves one problem. One out of approximately three, seeing that this mess is cleaned up and having a talk with Koga still remain on the checklist.

A tap on her arm draws her attention, she’s expecting to have to ask a customer or dancer to please go and find someone else right now, or if you really need to talk to me wait a couple of minutes, when she turns around. Towering over her and red hair pulled back in a ponytail a bartender greets her, a towel over her shoulder and a brush and shovel in one hand. Well, that takes care of another item on the list.

“I’ll get this cleaned up.” Thankful that the bar staff are so on the ball with things like this Mao shoots her an appreciative smile.

“Thanks.”

“Not the first spill of the night and it won’t be the last.” Mao certainly hopes any other spilt drinks tonight won’t be from remotely similar situations.

Only one thing left to deal with from the situation and this one not something she can expect to take care of itself, she starts trying to search out either Koga or Adonis in the crowds. One silver haired girl walks by with a scowl on her face but hair far too precisely styled and wearing pale blue lingerie that Koga would never be caught dead in, she’s not the one she’s after. It’s probably just as likely Koga’s ended up in the dressing room to sulk and complain to whoever else might be in there as it is that she stuck by her call to drag Adonis off to someone worth her time.

The dressing room is near empty when the door slides open. Koga has indeed retreated to somewhere where she can run her mouth without customers hearing, sitting on the floor near a blonde haired girl who seems to be paying far more attention to her phone than what’s being said to her. Taking a deep breath Mao prepares herself to get into Manager Mode. She’s not all that fond of telling off anyone or acting like she has authority over them.

“Kaoru, are you on break?”

The blonde looks up from her phone screen, a flicker of guilt crossing her face.

“I just got off stage, I was just checking my phone after for one tiny second, I totally wasn’t slacking off.” She’s lying and Mao knows it, she’s pretty sure Kaoru wasn’t even the last girl on stage.

“Just put it back in your locker and get back out there, we’re busy.” Kaoru is hardly the only girl fond of slacking off but she’s definitely one of the worst offenders. A real shame because on the rare night she decides to apply herself, she’s very rarely seen outside of a lap dance. “Koga, you can stay out here, I need you to cool off before you head back out. Where’s Adonis?”

“One of her regulars snapped her up almost right after you shouted at me. I was in the right yanno? He was fuckin’ tryna convince her to go to a hotel with him, thought ‘cuz she’s not from around here it’d be easy to talk her into bein’ his whore for the night or some shit.” Koga spits out, “If he ain’t been kicked out get someone to do it. No one in this place is dumb enough to go with him but I’m so fuckin’ sick of guys like that thinking we’d screw them for the right price, most of the girls in this place don’t even like dick.”

Koga looks about ready to punch someone and Mao’s really, really glad that they’re having this conversation in the dressing room.

“Look I get what you’re saying and it pisses me off too but that doesn’t mean you can go knocking drinks to the ground.” Mao sighs. It really does anger her off that it’s such a common occurrence for guys with no intention of buying a lap dance or even tipping come in and try and convince girls to come away with them. “Get a bouncer next time and let them be the bad guy. Kuro saw everything so don’t be surprised if you’ve been cut off from the bar when you get back out there.”

“I ain’t even been drinkin’” She complains. “Wish I had been, makes their bullshit easier to swallow when I’m not sober.”

Hearing Koga talk like that is concerning. She’s fully aware the girls here have to put up with a lot that they ideally shouldn’t have to but knowing that there are some of them who don’t like to, or can’t work without a few drinks in them because of the way they get treated by customers never gets easier to stomach. Of course there are a few girls who would be working drunk, bad behaviour from men or not, that doesn’t get easier to stomach either.

“I don’t really know how to respond to that? It would be good if you could not drink every night.” Mao says, feeling a bit awkward because they’re skirting around a rather heavy topic.

The sound of the dressing room door sliding open again is a welcome distraction, Mao hoping that whoever’s coming in will give her an excuse to duck back into the club.

“Ah. Corgi, you’ll do.” A very, very familiar voice speaks.

“Ritsu?”  She queries, wondering just what exactly Koga _‘will do’_ for.

“It’s that guy who likes to watch me play with other girls.” Ritsu says, smile evident in her voice as she wraps her arms around Mao’s waist. She is familiar with the customer, one of Ritsu’s best, and easiest regulars, since she doesn’t actually have to interact much with the guy.

“Koga’s back here to cool off, you should probably ask her if she’s okay with it before just recruiting her.” She says quietly.

“Oi! Don’t jus’ talk about me like I’m not here!” Koga growls, obviously hearing Mao despite the drop in volume. “How long’s he wantin’ us for?”

Mao here’s a satisfied sound from Ritsu.

"An hour. You think you can keep up with me for that long?” She teases, unwrapping her arms from around Mao.

“Yeah sure, whatever.” She starts pushing herself from the floor, still visibly irritated but such a good payout and a customer she doesn’t have to interact with much too tempting to refuse. “He better be buying a few rounds too though, I ain’t putting up with you for an hour if I’m not drinking.”

Mao sighs sadly, wishing Koga was more willing to try get through shifts sober. She wants to remind Koga that she might very well be cut off from drinking but decides against it. Koga agreeing to join Ritsu is going to make the night a lot easier for everyone involved, whether she’s getting served alcohol or not.

“He’ll buy you as much as you want, he’s loaded.” Ritsu turns to Mao, leaning in and pressing a kiss against her mouth. The taste of some spirit is heavy on her lips, “I won’t have too much fun with her, I promise~”

“All I ask is that you two don’t get in trouble,” She says. Even if this particular customer has never acted badly, she knows full well Ritsu can act almost as explosively as Koga does to bad customers. However she’s more fond of a good hard slap than shouting and spilling drinks.

Mao had come to accept very early in Ritsu’s stripping career that the job description could include her messing about with other girls at times. As long as she was the one who truly held Ritsu’s heart, she found herself not minding much once she’d gotten used to the idea. Work and home were two completely different things.

“I won’t, you’ll have to tell Corgi to be a good puppy though~” Already heading towards the door, Ritsu taunts Koga in a way that has Mao slightly worried about how they’ll make it through the entire three hours.

“Don’t fuckin’ call me puppy or Corgi or any of that bullshit. I’ll pretend to get along with you as long as we’re getting paid but I swear to god if you-”

“Mmm, good girl good girl~” Ritsu sounds so much like her sister that it’s almost scary as the door opens, the sounds of the club drowning her out before Koga can follow her.

Watching the door shut as they both enter the club again, she finds herself shaking her head to herself and smiling. No matter the trouble Ritsu might occasionally cause, she is incredibly suited to this line of work. Herself too, she may be working in a stressful, chaotic environment because of Ritsu’s decision to become a stripper but at times like this, she can’t imagine herself being happier doing anything else.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Miles/@Mahoutsukais on twitter for giving me the inspiration to try writing a strip club AU again. 
> 
> I’ve tried writing these in the past but it’s always been from one of the dancers points of view, ends up far too angsty and I’m never happy with what I’m writing. Trying a manager’s pov is something that as soon as I thought of, I knew I would finish and writing them as girls was just easier since it made things familiar territory. But ANY WAY. I’m just glad I managed to actually get a type of AU that I’ve been wanting to write since before Enstars was even a thing done.


End file.
